BOSTON (TIP): NBC Boston anchor Natasha Verma felt a lump on her neck last year, and soon she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The 23-year-old Indian American lost all her hair from chemotherapy and found it even difficult to manage the wig she got.

Now having successfully battled cancer, Verma has launched a “Cap Wig” fundraiser, as a part of her “Put a Cap on Cancer” project, to help female and children battling cancer by providing quality “cap wigs.”

“Losing my hair was the hardest part of chemotherapy,” she writes on the official website of her Verma Foundation. “When doctors told me, I’d lose my hair to treatment. I felt panicked. It sounds so trivial, but that’s my identity and that’s how I express myself. It was a really big punch after already hearing you have cancer.”

“Dealing with ill-fitting, itchy, and expensive wigs on top of all only made it worse,” she adds. “I would throw a baseball cap on top of my wig to avoid the problems, and that’s when the light bulb went off.

 On January 3, 2018, I launched a ‘Cap Wig’ fundraiser to raise enough money to produce free hats with hair for female and children cancer patients who want to have a wig look, without the hassle of cost or style. Many women, especially those struggling to cover health care bills, cannot afford the cost of a quality wig.”

Verma was the youngest-ever graduate from the University of Texas, when she earned broadcast journalism and biology/pre-med UG degrees at 17. She joined NBC in 2016 after completing a master’s in journalism from Columbia University.

Verma says she is in remission and distributes wigs free of cost.

The wigs are made from 100 percent human hair, customizable, and completely free for cancer patients. Each patient is entitled to a cap and can choose the color of both cap and hair, each cost around $150 to $200.

All donations will go toward the Leukemia and Lymphoma Research Fund at Bet Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where she was treated.

To donate or to request a wig, log on to https://vermafoundation.org/projects/put-a-cap-on-cancer/ .